My appreciation, love
by PockyForJean-Tan
Summary: Kashino nodded and stared at his food. "Chocolate and strawberries, huh?" he thought.


It was a happy day. Rays of beautiful sunshine came through the tall window. Group A had wanted to practice making sweets for the Grand Prix. All their Sweets Spirits have gone to the Sweets Kingdom for a Court Patissier test. And, actually, today is apparently, White Day. You know, the day where boys give girls chocolates, showing their appreciation for what the girls did on Valentine's Day. Andoh and Hanabusa already gave Ichigo their 'thank-you gifts' earlier today. Ichigo assumed Kashino wouldn't even get her anything, being the devil Ichigo thinks he is.

* * *

The happy, cheerful girl mixed in two eggs to the batter.

"Amano!" the blonde 'devil' shouted. "You were only supposed to put in the egg _yolks_, not the whole egg!"

"A-ah, sorry, Kashino!" the clumsy strawberry said.

"Geez, what am I going to do with you? Kashino complained.

"Now, Now, maybe we could make something useful out of that batter, ne?" the lime-haired 'Sweets Prince', Hanabusa Satsuki said.

"Yeah…Maybe..we could use it as…" Sennosuke Andoh pondered at his thoughts. "…Pancake batter? After all, it has most of the ingredients for it." Andoh finished.

"Fine, but do you even know how to make pancakes, Amano?" Kashino grumbled.

"Hmmph! Of course, Kashino! I'm not a child!" Ichigo replied strongly.

"Whatever, but just do it right this time, got it?" Kashino said, keeping his full-on personality of his.

'_Agh. That Kashino is always so mean!_'Ichigo thought.

Ichigo walked over to the cabinet and pulled out the flat pan. She turned on the stove and placed the pan there while adding the oil. While the pan was heating up, she completed the pancake batter by mixing in milk, cream, and vanilla extract. She mixed it all together till it was light and fluffy.

Hanabusa smiled at her working so hard at her 'mistake batter'. She was so cute, the way she furrowed her eyebrows because of Kashino.

'_Kashino… _'He thought. Satsuki always loved Ichigo. But, he also knew Kashino's feelings. He too realized, that Ichigo liked Kashino. Too bad they're both blinded. By love. Heck, even Andoh knew. So Hanabusa decided to try and let go. Just to make her happy.

He snapped out of his faze when he bent the candy art a little too much. He glanced over at Ichigo again and said, "Ichigo-chan, why don't you add some fruit to create more flavor, hmm?"

"Kay! I'll check!" she answered as she skipped over to find fruit.

She looked over at the fruit section to find a variety of fruits.

'_Hmm…Mangoes, apples, bananas, strawberries, kiwis, oranges, peaches, tomatoes, cherries, grapes, blueberries, and…a pink box?_' Ichigo wondered.

"Ne, why is there a pink box in the fruit section?" Ichigo said to her teammates. She saw a tag on it and she read, '_To Ich_'. She couldn't read the rest because Kashino ran over and snatched the box from her.

Andoh chuckled. Satsuki smirked. Kashino widened his eyes in relief.

"Hoy, Amano! You shouldn't read something that's not yours." Kashino quickly made a statement.

"I just wanted to see what it was…" Ichigo grumbled.

Ichigo realized that the pan would over-heat if she didn't pick some fruit. She randomly grabbed some strawberries, cut it in halves, and whisked it in with the batter, before slowly putting in the batter into circles on the pan.

Kashino set down the box on the floor, and glared at Hanabusa. Hanabusa smiled in return, as if saying, 'You should give it to her now.'

And as if on cue, Andoh, Satsuki, and Kashino finished practicing. Ichigo was just finished putting the pancakes on a glass plate.

"I'm done! Would you like to eat these with me?" Ichigo said.

Andoh and Satsuki looked at each other and nodded.

"Sorry, Ichigo, but we have something to do for Henri-sensei!" they both said sadly.

"But, I bet Ma-kun isn't busy, so maybe you can share it with him. Right, Ma-kun?" Andoh said enthusiastically.

Ichigo and Makoto both blushed at the thought of them alone. Sharing pancakes.

"M-mhm. Whatever." Kashino said.

"Okay then, see you later you two!" Ichigo said, waving them both good-bye.

* * *

They both ate in silence as they blushed, not knowing how to start a conversation.

Kashino had made hot chocolate to accompany their afternoon pancake snack.

"Thank you for making hot chocolate!" Ichigo said, in her childish way.

Kashino nodded and stared at his food. '_Chocolate and strawberries, huh?_' he thought.

Both were soon finished so Ichigo got up to put the dishes in the sink and started to walk away. Before Kashino stopped her.

"A-Amano.." the chocolatier said nervously.

"Yes, Kashino?" Ichigo answered.

He stood up and gave her the pink box. The one she found earlier.

"Silly Kashino! Why are you giving this to me? This wasn't eve-"

"Just look at the tag, idiot." he interrupted while he lightly blushed. Too bad Ichigo didn't notice.

Ichigo did what Kashino had said and saw what had been written on the tag.

_To Ichigo._

_Here. I wanted to give you this to show my appreciation of what you gave me on Valentine's Day. Accept it and try it. _

Ichigo _almost_ cried at the gift. But she held it in to accept what Kashino had done for her.

"T-thank you, Kashino." she said as she smiled brightly.

Kashino loved when she did that and said, "Can you taste it for me?"

In response, Ichigo opened up the petite box, only to find chocolate cookies in shape of a strawberry. She hugged Kashino and tasted it. She could imagine Kashino working so hard to make this. She felt warmth surround her as the chocolate danced on her tongue. The way it just melted.

"Well, what do you think?" he asked.

"It-It's beautiful, Kashino!" she exclaimed. She hugged him and just stood there. At first, he flinched at her touch, but by how warm she was, he wrapped his arms around her, letting herself melt into his arms.

"Can you finally see how much I love you?" Kashino said kindly.

Tears pricked on Ichigo's eyes as she kissed Kashino gently. And she answered, "Yes, I have."

* * *

Behind the wall, Andoh and Hanabusa were watching. Of course, they never left at all. They exchanged handshakes as they both breathed out a "Finally."


End file.
